Cool Weekend, Hot Competition at Stable View Eventing

Friday: Dressage and Show Jumping

What started as a cold morning on April 5 turned into a beautiful sunny day of sport at Stable View farm in Aiken, South Carolina. The day started off with the Intermediate, CCI2*-S, CCI3*-S, and CCI4*-S in the dressage rings. Advanced also had their turn in the sandbox at the conclusion of the Intermediate. Following dressage, Intermediate, CCI3*, Advanced, and CCI4* all jumped over Chris Barnard’s track in the Tree Arena.

Four-star riders competed in the Mark Phillips Arena and at the conclusion of dressage, Boyd Martin (USA) riding Commando 3 were in the lead on a score of 25.7. Close behind him were Will Coleman (USA) and Chin Tonic HS and Liz Halliday (USA) and Cooley Quicksilver tied on a score of 26.5. Liz also held fourth place on her mount, Cooley Nutcracker owned by the Nutcracker Syndicate. Rounding out the top five were Colleen Loach (CAN) and her own FE Golden Eye on their score of 30.2.

The four-star competitors then moved to the show jumping phase and the top few remained unchanged after jumping double clear. Boyd and Commando 3 were sitting on their dressage score of 25.7 heading into Saturday.

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Boyd shared his thoughts for cross-country. “The course looks challenging. Hats off to the new course designer, Helen West. She’s really tried to mimic some of the questions we’ll be faced with at Kentucky.”

Liz stayed tied for second place on Cooley Quicksilver with Will Coleman and Chin Tonic HS going into the final phase. She shared, “He was a little bit edgy in warm-up but he went in and jumped really well. He’s quite a professional horse now so I was happy with that.”

Alexandra Baugh (USA) and Hubert Des 3 Arbres topped the three-star division at the end of dressage on a score of 28.9. Sydney Elliot (USA) and Arden Stephens’ ChinTonic 3 were close behind on a 29.7. Rounding out the top three was Lauren Lambert (USA) and Biscotti on their score of 30.9. Following show jumping, the CCI3* had quite the leaderboard shake-up; Alexandra kept her lead after jumping double clear. Emilie Mudd-Guy (USA) and Quite Nice 11 moved into second position from fifth, Jimmie Schramm (USA) and Eclaire moved up from ninth into third place after their double-clear round. Chris Barnard’s track sent lots of poles flying, but 13 of the 36 combinations jumped double clear.

The CCI2* saw three combinations sneak into the 20s. Boyd Martin and Fetiche Des Rouges started their weekend with an early lead on a 26.0. Tim Bourke (IRL) and Electric Quality ended the day in second place on 28.2. Finishing out the day one podium was Meaghan Marinovich-Burdick (USA) and her own HSH Bitcoin on 29.2.

Waylon Roberts with a big smile and a cheque. (Dave Shapiro photo)

Two national divisions also got their chance to dance in the sandbox today. Canadian Lindsay Traisnel and Bacyrouge had a good start to their weekend, scoring a 26.4 in the Advanced. Allison Springer (USA) took the next two positions, scoring 29.1 on No Way Moon and 30.2 on Vandyke. Allison and No Way Moon took over the lead after their double-clear jumping round, and Lindsay and Bacyrouge dropped to second after having 10A down. Ariel Grald (USA) and Leamore Master Plan moved up five places to finish day one in third place.

The Intermediate saw Ariel Grald take the dressage lead by 6.1 points with Anne Eldridge’s Adagios Nobility, putting down a very respectful test to earn a 20.5. Katie Lichten (USA) took the next two places in the Intermediate with HTS Jensen R and Fast Company. Ariel kept her lead in show jumping while growing the gap between her and second place. Katie and HTS Jensen R had a rail at the C element of the triple combination, dropping the pair to fifth. This moved up her ride, Fast Company into second place after their double-clear round. Allison Springer (USA) and Monbeg Zebedee also jumped double-clear to move up to third place.

Saturday – Cross-Country

Helen West (GBR) designed the Preliminary, CCI2*-S, Advanced, and CCI4*-S cross-country tracks, remarking that she designed the latter with the idea that it is a pre-Kentucky warm-up. Mogie Bearden-Muller designed the Training, Modified, Intermediate, and CCI3*-S courses.

What started as another chilly Aiken morning turned into a beautiful sunny afternoon. The CCI2* division show jumped and ran cross-country, while the Intermediate, CCI3*, Advanced, and CCI4* competitors all took their turns over West and Bearden-Muller’s courses.

The CCI3* division was the first to leave the start box. Baugh and Hubert Des 3 Arbres held their lead, only adding one second of time to their dressage score to finish on 29.3. Alex said, “Stable View is a fantastic prep for the rest of the season. They do a fabulous job organizing and running the event and it’s great to see how the horses’ fitness and training is coming along for the long formats. The plan this season is to step ‘Hubert’ up to the four-star level and this was a great event to test ourselves a bit.”

Waylon Roberts (CAN) and his own Fernhill Salt Lake were the first out of the start box for the day and were the only pair to make the time on Mogie’s course. This double-clear round moved Waylon up from his overnight sixth place into second on 34.2. Kimmy Cecere and Landmark’s Monaco moved up seven places to finish on 40.3.

The Intermediate division was the next to head out, and the top three following show jumping remained unchanged. Grald and Adagios Nobility stayed in first, adding 3.2 time penalties; Lichten and Fast Company stayed in second place and Springer and Monbeg Zebedee finished in third. Just two riders made the time on the course, one again being Waylon Roberts riding OKE Ruby R, who moved from 11th to 4th.

In the CCI4*, Martin and Commando 3 added 6.8 time penalties to hold onto first place and finish the weekend on 32.5. “I really like to use Stable View as my preparation leading up to Kentucky, which is my big goal for the spring,” he said. “I think the new course designer, Helen West, built an unbelievable track.” Boyd jokingly said, “The highlight of my weekend was taking this big check [$9,900] from Barry Olliff.”

Will Coleman and Chin Tonic HS added 7.6 penalties to their score to finish second on 34.1; Doug Payne and Quantum Leap grabbed the final podium position.

The Advanced division saw only five combinations jump clear. Traisnel and Bacyrouge moved back into the lead with 4.4 time penalties. Melanie Smith and Shakedown Street moved into second from 12th place after putting down the fastest round of the Advanced division with only 2.4 time penalties. Elle Choate and her horse Paddrick took third place with 7.6 time penalties.

Some might say this was Boyd’s weekend. In addition to his four-star win, he and Fetiche Des Rouges held the lead from start to finish in the CCI2* division. Marinovich-Burdick and HSH Bitcoin finished in second place, and Bourke and Electric Quality added only one rail to their dressage score to finish in third place.

Results here.

~ with files from Stable View Media